India’s Micromax orders MediaTek’s smartphone chips

Staff writer, with CNA

Wed, Jan 30, 2013 - Page 14

MediaTek Inc (聯發科), one of Taiwan’s leading integrated circuit (IC) designers, has secured orders to provide Indian smartphone vendor Micromax with its first-quad core smartphone chip.

Micromax, the third-largest smartphone maker in India, will use the MediaTek chip in the production of its A116 Canvas HD smartphone, scheduled to hit the Indian market early next month, which is equipped with Google’s Andrioid 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system and an 8 megapixel camera.

The Taiwanese firm unveiled the quad-core smartphone platform on Dec. 11 last year. The company said Micromax is its first customer for the product, which is able to deliver premium multimedia capabilities and boasts low power consumption.

Taiwan-based Acer Inc, the world’s fourth-largest personal computer vendor, said it will use MediaTek’s quad-core chips for production of both its 8-inch and 10-inch tablet computers which will hit the market in the fourth quarter of this year.

Meanwhile, in the wake of the slow-season effects of the first quarter, Nomura Securities said it expects MediaTek’s consolidated sales for the three-month period to fall 8 percent to 14 percent from the previous quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the IC designer posted NT$26.73 billion (US$903 million) in consolidated sales, down 9.28 percent from the third quarter.

MediaTek’s sales for this month are expected to rise more than 10 percent from the NT$7.58 billion reached in December last year, on the back of an increase in its smartphone chip shipments, Nomura Securities said